Healing and wellness.... (Part 1)

It's been a while, life has been so massively busy - church anniversaries, dog show and pet services, fetes and shows, and demolishing a church kitchen!

Now a couple of days off, time to draw breath.

I feel I ought to follow up from this post.  I did go through the emotional engagement that the counsellor wanted me to, and I think it was helpful in that space and time, but as my depression had already subsided it is hard to assess for any effects.  You can't test the roof patch until the next storm to see if it leaks again or not.

It maybe part of not fully feeling comfortable with my particular counsellor, but I felt that the process was regarded as a fix all. That having completed it in an acceptable way my depression will be all but gone and as I go into next winter when it usually flares up it won't and I will be seeing the doctor to wean off meds.  Ok she acknowledged a time lag as I adjust to what happened in the process but essentially it was all guaranteed as a logical progression.  I have had my last session with her, though she spent half the time explaining why I should go back during the adjustment time.

What is healing? or wellness for that matter?

I am part of a group trying to get something together in our rural town about support for mental health but also in a proactive way building people up to better cope with the stresses that come. As a community group we got a free stall at the local Agricultural Show last Saturday - and we needed to find a name and the working title we are running with is the Wellness Group.  We didn't have any events to plug yet but I took 170 odd mini grey cakes and resources from Time to Change and local carer support.  It was a very long day and we found some great people who are willing to help us and come with specialised skills, so very much worth it.

I sat with others involved at the start of the day and we tried to decide what Wellness meant to us in terms of the group.  Images around 'freedom to be', 'at ease', 'supported' were our conclusions, ideas that can go alongside and in despite of problems, stresses, health concerns etc rather than images of the absence of them.  It can be the removal of the unnecessary burdens that land on top of the core issue, and if the core problem can be relieved and removed then wonderful, but in a world where that is so often not the case then there can still be ways to reach towards wellness, to celebrate wholeness.